O Christmas Tree!

We finally made it out for our Christmas tree on Saturday afternoon.  We didn't have to go far, because this place is just down the road from us.  We even had a little bit of snow in honor of the occasion...very little.

 Many trees were inspected...

But only one was chosen.

I wanted to cut it down, but they took the saw away from me right after this photo was taken...?

So, Rick did the cutting, and I think everyone got in on the carrying/dragging/riding on the tree to get it back to the car.

And one of these days, I'll convince my kids to wear their winter coats.  You'd think snow on the ground would be a visible reminder, but no.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Dear Moriah!

My baby girl is 9! 

And Nine years was celebrated with friends to sleep over and play silly games with, a special breakfast out with Daddy, and a truly delicious cake...4 layers of white chocolate cake with lemon filling sandwiched between, covered with a decadent layer of white chocolate cream cheese frosting, and dusted all over with coconut...I love it that my kids have such great taste!


"...Now blow your candles out my dear, and make your wish come true!"

This is a girl with a ready smile.
This is a girl with a kind word for everyone.
This is a girl who never complains.
This is a girl who is happy over others' joys.
This is a girl who brings great joy to others' lives.
This is a girl with a great sense of humor!
This is a girl I don't deserve, but have great delight in!!

May all your wishes come true and more importantly, may God continue to richly bless you as you grow in grace and stature.

Happy Birthday, Moriah.

And in closing, the birthday girl herself hacked into my blog and added her own two cents:

"Mom I'm not a baby!!!!!!" Man this blog is embarasing!!!!!!!

2 people, 2 bikes, 2 decades.

Rick and I recently celebrated our 20th anniversary, and I'm still finding it hard to wrap my mind around that number--20 years sounds like such a long time and yet it seems to have passed so quickly! 

Since it seems like I've established a trend of "then and now" photos, I had to include one from our first anniversary in Pensacola with our then new bicycles, and the same bicycles in Acadia with us on our 20th.  The bikes might show some wear and tear, but we're not pointing any fingers here.

Since my incredibly giving parents came down to spend a few days of making favorite meals, buying treats while out shopping, and otherwise giving our kids a delightful time, we took off for a few days to the Saltair Inn in Bar Harbor where we had a delightful time exploring Acadia, sleeping in, and enjoying each other's company without interruption.  Imagine the luxury of waking in the morning because the  light is brightening the room and the smell of a delicious breakfast that someone else is making is wafting into the room rather than because a baseball obsessed 6-year old is wondering whether his baseball pants are out of the laundry yet, because "you know, I have a game tonight". 

It was a rainy, windy, foggy few days, and the view from Cadillac Mountain was remarkably similiar to my first view of the Grand Canyon, and eerily like the view we had of Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany,

but that was really of little consequence in light of a few days alone!

The sun came out just in time for us to actually see the scenery from the highest peak in Acadia, and we were left with this view, and plans in the making to come back to do some more exploring of this beautiful place...maybe we'll even take the kids next time!